How did Jaguar go from meh to awesome in no time?

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

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:p

The X-Type was plagued by "it's a Mondeo init".

The S-Type was kind of love/hate.

The XJ did well in the premium market as it was unaffordable by people who had rubbish opinions (see X-Type) :p

Then suddenly, 2009 onward, Jaguar became amazing.
 
its more like the jaguar trait. they do awesome then go dwon hill for a few models then just when you think nahhhh...they bring out a great car again :p
 
Tata provided lots and lots and lots of money. Good people were employed.

Pretty much everything in the company was invested in and improved.
 
The most recent model revisions seem to have taken a step backwards, imo. Still slick but they've lost that Jag character, now they're all a bit bland like the German rivals. Same naff interior used across the range, for example with an interface that looks inspired by a brand like Hyundai.

I'm sure they are still on top form in most peoples eyes, though.
 
2008 was when ford sold Jaguar Landrover to Tata

all that came afterwards was from the investment tata put into the company.
 
Minstadave said:
Seems to be working for them.
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The car market is now about maximum bling minimum monthly, so effort put into other areas might not yield as much profit as selling white R Line Mega Sport 2 litre diesels on PCP with 20 inch wheels.

Its sound business sense and Jaguar is doing well out if it.
 
Disclaimer first: Fully paid-up Jag Fai boi (Previously 2 cars were X-Types, current car is an XJ).

For me the revival became obvious with the launch of the XF. Out of pretty much nowhere a stunning looking car that was excellent to drive, reliable and at a sensible price point appeared. You no longer had to be over 60 and a life member of the local golf club to own a jag. It gave everyone who'd always wanted a Jag but "had" to go German a compelling reason to switch. Jag's average customer age must have dropped by 15-20 years with the XF. It was a gamble at the time - didn't look remotely like a Jag - so could have lost their existing customers without gaining new ones.

Much of that work happened under Ford but recession forced them into selling the brand. There were fundamental improvements made earlier in terms of upgrading the factories to something from this century instead of the 1970's. Although the X-Type and S-Types were both "meh" they are solid cars underneath the bland design.

Fox's point on technology is fair. You can't match the Germans for that: they have had many years of profitability to fund the investment along with consistent ownership and a culture of long term thinking. Give where Jag started from, they've come a long way in a short time.

I think my only whine now is that its quite hard to tell them apart from the front. When I see another Jag coming the other way I can't really tell if its an XE, XF or XJ until I see the side. I'm not nerdy enough to instantly recognise the small design cues like the light clusters or front bumper differences.

I know we have some JLR employees on here. Would be very interested to hear the insider perspective.
 
I think its great that Jag are doing well and I absolutely accept the point you make about the Germans and tech. They've got more money, they spend more on R&D and Jaguar do very well considering the smaller size of the firm.

Sadly from a customer perspective that means I still buy German :(
 
I wrote them off when they rejected my 2010 XJ rust claim on the sunroof rails saying the corrosion was coming from under the paint or surface, some irrelevant reason like this which made zero sense.
 
peterwalkley said:
Out of pretty much nowhere a stunning looking car that was excellent to drive, reliable and at a sensible price point appeared.
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Just my experience, but I don't think they are reliable, I think that's an area they lack. I agree with the comments of others here in that they sell well by targeting customers at new but I really don't rate the long term reliability.

In fact, I cant remember where, but on one of those owners surveys the XF done superb recently, it was the original model too... but reliability was pretty shocking. I also find the dealers less than ideal compared to even BMW
 
Fr0dders said:
2008 was when ford sold Jaguar Landrover to Tata

all that came afterwards was from the investment tata put into the company.
Click to expand...

Tata bought a company that already had received a huge amount of investment from Ford and already had a series of products that were getting close to being released.

JLR have also benefited from the fact that a large percentage of their products are SUVs at a time that the market really wants SUVs.
 
Not just Jag. Most manufacturers have upped their game in the last few years. E.g. Look at old Seats vs new ones ones, old Scodas vs new, Kia, Ford, etc. They all have much higher quality interiors and more standard equipment than they did 5 years ago.
 
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